The global mobile (portable) printer market will see high single-digit compounded annual growth rates through 2017 from a base of $265 million in 2012. These devices will remain key growth markets for vendors and their channel partners, as end-users ride the mobility wave. Workforce mobilization and related requirements will spur current and anticipated product development enhancements, requiring support for various mobile operating systems, and seamless integration with various transaction-enabling solutions and contactless technologies like near field communication (NFC). Increased adoption of mobile printing solutions will not be concentrated in any one vertical market. In fact, the mobile transaction printer industry is faced with equal parts growth opportunities and challenges due to highly fragmented usage environments, customer types, and device configurations. The ongoing introduction of consumer-grade devices into the enterprise will present roadblocks while also driving hardware and application innovation. In order to align product and market development strategies with evolving user requirements and preferences, increased investments in R&D, distribution channels, and solution partnering are critical to capitalize on the significant opportunities that lie ahead.
Although the mobile printer market is not commoditized (yet), VDC expects the heavily fragmented competitive landscape to pose significant challenges to the vendor community in terms of attaining desired revenue growth and improvements in profit margins. An exclusive focus on hardware innovation alone will not be a sustainable business development strategy in the long run. Application development targeted at making it possible for the workforce to send print commands using any mobile device, on any printer, should be vendors’ goal with mobile printing. This will protect suppliers from shrinking hardware margins and losing valuable customers while generating a relatively lower cost and more profitable revenue stream.
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